Equatorial Guinea in 2005

Area:

28,051 sq km (10,831 sq mi)

Population

(2005 est.): 504,000

Capital:

Malabo

Chief of state:

President Brig. Gen. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

Head of government:

Prime Minister Miguel Abia Biteo Boricó

In 2005 the consequences of the failed February 2004 coup continued to be felt in Equatorial Guinea. In November 2004 the conspirators held in Equatorial Guinea were sentenced to terms of up to 34 years in jail. Amnesty International condemned their trial as unfair and expressed alarm over the conditions under which they were imprisoned. Severo Moto, the exiled politician who was to have been installed as president in place of Teodoro Obiang Nguema, fled from Spain fearing assassination and in April 2005 was discovered to be in Croatia. Meanwhile, the boom in oil exploration and production in the Gulf of Guinea continued, and Equatorial Guinea was set to become the third largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola. Output by the end of 2005 was projected to reach 380,000 bbl a day. With the rise in oil prices through the year, Equatorial Guinea’s bonanza was even greater, with economic growth expected to be 50%. What did not go into the bank accounts of the leading politicians went mainly into infrastructure development, particularly the creation of a new city at the capital, Malabo. A dispute with Gabon over uninhabited islands in Corisco Bay remained unsettled, but there was talk of creating a joint development zone for the two countries to share the hydrocarbon wealth of the area.